Of Blood & Spirit
by wondergirlinwonderland
Summary: (AU) Yugi and Yami are twins, except that Yami was never actually born. But Yugi could always see and hear him, leading some people to think he has issues. But when he needs to repay a favor, he's going to need to trust people like he never used to, and Yami must trust himself to overcome his inner darkness.
1. Chapter 1

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairing:** Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Dragonshipping (Yami/Joey), Chaseshipping (Duke/Tristan), Silentshipping (Seto/Serenity)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 1):** 930

 **Author's Notes:**

Warning: This is going to deal with ghosts, references to death and suicide, violence, and language. I don't think I'll be going into graphic violence but be warned.

Disclaimer: this is not an original idea. If you look up Sisters of Blood and Spirit, you'll find the book that inspired this. I found it by chance at my local library, finished it within a couple of hours, and after I finished it, realized it would be a good premise for Yu-Gi-Oh!

* * *

 **Yugi:**

Red. That's all I could see – red. The sweet feeling of release, of getting away from all the pain. The red turned to black, turned to blue, back to black again and I was floating on air. I couldn't breathe physically but emotionally I felt like I was finally taking my first breath. A breath I knew I never deserved to have and I should have never been breathing.

Freedom.

The feeling was short lived. The vast blue ended when a blur of silver came at me, opening wide jaws to reveal sharp white teeth.

When I woke up, I was covered in a cold sweat. I panted, swallowing hard and clutching my chest.

"You were dreaming about it again."

I turned to glare at the deep voice that had spoken. On the window sill, not even looking at me, sat my brother. His head was leaning against the window pane but I knew it actually wasn't. In order to lean against something, you'd have to be solid.

Yami wasn't. Yami wasn't even alive.

"I know. You don't have to tell me every time. And would you stop sending sharks after me, for Pete's sake?"

I threw the covers off my body and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I hadn't stopped glaring at my brother and he hadn't turned to me yet.

Yami and I were complicated, to say the least. We were twins, or at least, we were _supposed_ to be twins. There were complications when my mom was giving birth to us, and she needed an emergency C-section. The doctors got me out fine, but Yami…

Yami had been stillborn. I don't think my mother ever got over the fact that she only got one of the sons she was supposed to. Her and my dad never tried again, from what I could tell.

When I was growing up, I never understood the big deal. It took me a little while to realize not everyone could see him the way I could, not everyone heard his voice. For a while, everyone thought I just had an imaginary friend, and I can only imagine my surprise when my older cousin told me I was getting too old to have one. _Imaginary_. Mom always used to give me a weird look every time I mentioned Yami, and once or twice I overheard a breakdown about why he never came to talk to her. She didn't know he tried.

It never made sense to me why I'd been the one born breathing and he hadn't. He was the funny one, the confident one, the leader-type. He just seemed more _alive_. Yet I was the one with a pulse. Even his hair was more lively, so much like mine but with more golden blond shooting up.

"You still blame me."

Sharing a mind with someone was tricky. We couldn't hear everything the other thought, but we could feel the other's moods often, and we shared a lot more than we probably would if we were both alive. My resentment over him not getting to live must have seeped out.

"For what?" Though I had a feeling I knew where this was going, seeing as the nature of my dream.

"Saving you." Of course.

"You didn't save me."

"No, I couldn't do that. But I had someone else do it."

Over the summer, I'd made the mistake of letting people convince me Yami wasn't real. That he was all in my head. I tried to drown him out, feel _normal_ , but it didn't work. Ignoring Yami made me feel as crazy as everyone thought I was.

So since I couldn't drown anything _out_ , I tried to drown myself. I don't think he knows I was trying to join him. He'd probably blame himself if he did.

What he had done was somehow reach out to a medium, who'd reached out to someone else. Next thing I knew, someone was giving me mouth to mouth and then I'd been locked up in a psych ward. Not a pleasant experience.

Honestly, death would have been much preferred. In addition to that, my parents decided they couldn't deal with me anymore, and now I'm staying with my Grandpa in Domino City.

Yami turned to me, red eyes boring into my violet ones. That was one of the main differences between us, other than height, bangs, and eyes, the two of us were identical. But in the spirit realm, Yami could change his appearance as he wished, so I wasn't even sure if those were how he really would have looked or how he chose to look.

I realized after a little too long stretch of silence that I hadn't responded to him. "I'm fine. I haven't dreamt of it in a while. I'm probably just nervous for school."

Yami didn't push it, and I got myself up and ready for a shower. When I got back to the bedroom, he'd moved off the window and was laying on the bed, shuffling through my Duel Monsters cards. I got myself dressed, unfortunately in a uniform, which at my old school I didn't have to wear.

Yami must have noticed my grimace at the ugly shade of blue because he chuckled and morphed his own clothes to match. Somehow, they looked a lot better on him. "Are you going to be okay, Yugi?"

I sighed, giving myself one last look in the mirror before grabbing my school bag. "As okay as I'll ever be," I answered, throwing it over my bag and leaving.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Okay, I know I said I'd get the next chapter of Legally Blond up but then this happened. If I finished five minutes sooner, I'd be uploading it the same day as my first Dragonshipping oneshot. Interesting. Anyway, I know I named some ships up there so let me tell you, there's going to be a little attention given to each pairing but the main focus is probably going to be the supernatural, the friendships, and the Yami/Yugi brotherhood. I hope you enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairing:** Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Dragonshipping (Yami/Joey), Chaseshipping (Duke/Tristan), Silentshipping (Seto/Serenity)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 2):** 984

 **Author's Notes:** Here it is, chapter 2! I took a bit of a while with it because I got busy again, but here it is. This one's in Yami's POV and I think I'm going to try and make every chapter switch off. I hope I can keep up with that, not to mention tell everything through only these two POVs. In Legally Blond, I go through multiple, so. Speaking of, I've also started chapter 7 of that and I'm working on it as I upload this, I promise!

* * *

 **Yami:**

Walking downstairs with Yugi always felt a little weird. Actually walking anywhere was weird, if I was honest. I knew I could just float through things or mist out and appear somewhere else, but often, that seemed rude. So I stayed by Yugi's side and let him lead the way. He was, after all, the living one.

I watched him closely as he did, trying not to make my concern too obvious. He claimed he hadn't dreamt of his suicide attempt in a while, but I knew that wasn't true. I may not always add the little something to scare him out of it, but I could almost always get the feeling when he was having a dream about it.

Almost losing him had been the scariest time of my life, and things had been a little tense ever since. After I'd started the chain to save his life, which almost hadn't worked, he'd had to be put away. I hated that gruesome place and more than anything I hated having to stay away during most of it. Between the meds that put him out of it and having to convince the doctors he was 'better,' (which, being observed having conversations with your dead brother didn't help) I didn't really get a chance to talk to him.

Now that he was back, I was freer. He accepted that he wasn't crazy, and Grandpa…Grandpa was amazing. He never doubted my presence or disapproved of the bond I had with Yugi. Though I couldn't feel him, and he couldn't see me, it felt like family. Family was something I only had ever felt with Yugi.

"Good morning, you two," I heard that familiar voice from the kitchen as we rounded the corner. "I made pancakes for a good luck breakfast, I figure you need your strength for today, Yugi. I also made some cookies for you to take to school. Let your brother have one at lunch, okay? There's enough."

I couldn't help the smile that came to my lips, even though he couldn't see it. Grandpa was always doing things like this, making extra anything, and encouraging me to have some. I couldn't taste by myself, I needed to take over Yugi for that, but I never did that without permission. Especially in public.

Yugi smiled at Grandpa as well, though he could only see Yugi's and not mine. "Thank you, Grandpa." He sat down and ate quietly, and I studied Grandpa to get my mind off worrying about Yugi. That was easier said than done, though, since Grandpa seemed to be studying him carefully as he ate.

I knew he was worried. This would be our – Yugi's – first day at the new school. Though we grew up coming to visit Grandpa at Domino and even made some friends during summer camp, it'd been a while since we were actually here and Yugi had real interaction with any of the kids. But we were sure everyone had heard. Gossip spread quickly and the people who saved Yugi's life (though only one involved was public knowledge) went to school and lived here.

Those might have been the people Yugi dreaded seeing the most, but I didn't want to ask. I had a feeling he'd be likely to just ignore them both if he ran into either of them.

I was lost in my own thoughts until Yugi got up from the kitchen island and headed to the sink. He rinsed off his plate and gave Grandpa a hug goodbye.

"Yugi, good luck today. And Yami, behave, won't you?"

With that final farewell, the two of us headed to school.

"I'm going to have to not talk to you in public, Yami," Yugi said during our walk. We lived above Grandpa's game shop near the heart of the city, but the route to school wasn't entirely populated. Most people who needed to get to/from where school was from/to the city used either cars or public transportation, but I knew Yugi preferred walking. We'd often take walks when we lived with our parents; they lived not far from a beautiful park in a well-off suburb.

I sighed at his statement and nodded. "I understand." I said it calmly, because I truly did. It just got really lonely sometimes when I couldn't talk to him. Well, I'd be able to talk to him, but he couldn't talk back, and that's usually when the loneliness set in, not to mention the boredom. It sucked. But he was the only one who would hear me anyway.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, but…

I didn't think _he'd_ want to be branded crazy for talking to a ghost in public, either. Though I certainly wanted to talk to him again.

"I'll get it if you don't want to stay by my side through the whole day. I don't even want to go to school, so if you feel like ditching, that's fine. You can without getting in trouble," he joked. I knew he was trying to keep the tone light, but I couldn't figure out if it was more for my benefit or his own. "But I will definitely let you take over for lunch. I know you love Grandpa's cookies."

I smiled at him and thanked him, and asked a little bit about the schedule, but as soon as the school was in view, along with the students in uniforms filtering in and out, I quieted down. I mumbled to Yugi, "They looked like matching cattle all going into a slaughter," and he bit back a laugh, hiding it as a smile as he waved to a teacher walking by.

In a mild fit of rebellion, I willed my outfit to turn a darker shade of blue. I wanted to stand out even if no one could see me.

Yugi noticed and rolled his eyes before walking up the main steps.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : I've actually re-borrowed the book that gave me this idea from the library to refer to. It also has a sequel, which I've borrowed as well, so that's pretty cool. I haven't read it yet. I've also taken out other books, too, though, and that's where a lot of my free time has been going. I can't help it, I love books. I started reading the Olympians series. I'm up to number four. I almost want to make that an AU as well. Someone stop me. (or be a bad influence and encourage me…either one, I guess). Also, you know what's weird? My first document in the doc manager is about to expire tomorrow. Weird.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairing:** Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Dragonshipping (Yami/Joey), Chaseshipping (Duke/Tristan), Silentshipping (Seto/Serenity)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 3):** 1,500

 **Author's Notes:** This chapter is longer than the other two were, because I ended up just writing and writing. I also got it at a perfect number, so that's really cool. 1,500 words. I'm putting this warning on my two chaptered fics: I'm back in school, taking 16 credits. That being said, I'm going to need your patience as readers. School comes first, and then I have family and a social life that will need me to make time for. I'll write when I have time, but please be patient!

* * *

 **Yugi:**

Science was the bane of my existence. I was pretty average in school, in general, but I found math and history most interesting. I never understood how people didn't find history interesting…it was history! Math I enjoyed because I was good at puzzles. I always thought of the problems as puzzles, which made them a lot easier to solve.

Returning to science, though. I couldn't help it. I just never seemed to understand science. My brain just didn't seem to grasp it. Due to my brain and its constant disagreements with learning science, I had to repeat chemistry, which meant I was a junior in a class with mostly other sophomores.

The worst part was I was pretty much shorter than every sophomore in here. Actually, the worst was that I had it first period. The second worst part was that I was the shortest kid in class.

I tried to ignore everyone, wishing I could just talk to Yami without having to worry about seeming crazy. I was reading a book when someone sat next to me. Weird, I'd been mostly avoided thus far.

I looked over to see a really pretty girl with auburn hair, hazel eyes and a warm smile. I had a feeling I'd seen her before, but I couldn't place from where. Yami, who'd been perched on my desk top, looked at her a little bit hopeful.

I wanted to try and ask him about it but now I couldn't, and the girl actually looked like she felt like talking to me. Definitely weird.

"Hi, Yugi! I didn't know you were in this class. I figured you'd be in physics."

Okay, she knew me, but how? Probably rumors, I guess. I began to narrow my eyes at her and Yami huffed.

"You're an idiot. You really don't remember who she is?" I glanced at him, trying not to be obvious. He rolled his eyes in response. "Serenity. She used to live next door to Grandpa. We used to play with her and her brother when we'd visit.

I blinked, looking back at her. Now I could kind of see it, but memories from when I was young weren't easy to bring back up sometimes. From what I could remember, she never used to doubt Yami was there. Maybe it was just that we were so young that having an imaginary friend wasn't odd.

"Hi. Serenity, right?"

Her face lit up and she nodded. "Yeah! I'm glad you remember me, otherwise I'd feel like a bit of a creep. How are you? It's been a long time."

I bit back the sarcastic remark, _Oh, I'm great, just still chillin', recovering from a suicide attempt and my parents deciding they didn't want me anymore. How are you?_ because frankly, she seemed genuinely nice. I didn't really trust that people were genuinely nice, due to my lack of experience to prove as much, but maybe I could hope. Maybe.

"I'm alright, I guess. Bad enough at science to have to retake chemistry, though. How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you," she answered, but before we could talk anymore, the teacher came in and began the lecture that I couldn't even begin to tell you what it was about.

I _could_ tell you that Serenity was pretty good at it, talking me through the formulas and pointing to the chemicals in their sealed containers as the teacher mentioned them. There was a chance I could actually pass this year if she and I stayed friends and lab partners.

I could also tell you that the kids behind us were total jerks. When they weren't fighting with each other under their breath, they were throwing things at Serenity and I.

"Will you _stop it_?" I wasn't expecting Serenity to be the two of us to lose our temper and turn around, but she did and she was glaring more fiercely at them than I thought possible. I'd been trying hard not to lose my temper, because me losing my temper meant Yami getting pissed, and I didn't want an incident on the first day. Or all year, if I could help it.

"Can't help it, _Sheila_ ," one of them with messy brown hair said. "Just needed to ask a couple questions."

"That is not the proper way to get someone's attention," Serenity insisted, huffing and turning back to the blackboard and writing down some notes.

"Hey, don't be like that. We were just wondering why you chose to make friends with the new kid?"

Serenity pointedly ignored them. "See, Valon and I have different theories," the other boy piped up, rolling up his sleeves before running his hands through his red hair. "I think it's a desperate attempt to piss off your boyfriend since he clearly doesn't pay enough attention to you."

I could see Serenity tensing up and the question of who her boyfriend was entered my mind. That couldn't be why she was talking to me, right?

"Yeah, and I think it's because your brother's such a freak that you only feel comfortable making friends with other freaks," the brunet, Valon, finished.

I looked between Serenity and Yami, both of whom looked livid at the boys. I didn't know what was scarier – Yami, who I knew could be terrifying, or Serenity, who I didn't think had _that_ look in her arsenal and I didn't know what she was capable of.

The bell rang and Serenity turned in her seat so fast, she almost hit me with her hair. "You two are by far the most pathetic, idiotic, immature assholes I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. You should probably focus less on my friendships and more on your own lack thereof. Have a nice day. Let's go, Yugi."

She seemed satisfied, even though the two boys didn't wipe away their smirks. Yami, on the other hand, still looked pissed. Serenity and I packed up, and I began to make my way to the door, realizing he hadn't followed.

I gave him a look. "Go. I want to stay," he answered, lingering by Valon and the redhead. I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen.

"No," I whispered, getting weird looks from a passing student or two.

"Go catch up with Serenity. You can't be held responsible if you're not here," he continued. I groaned to myself, but I couldn't fight him. Not when there were so many people still around; I didn't want to be branded crazy again for having to convince my ghost brother not to hurt bullies at my new school.

As if reading my mind, he held up his hands in surrender. "I won't hurt them, I swear."

I gave up, rushing out of the room. I was halfway down the hall when I heard the door to the chem lab slam and I found Serenity in the crowd. "Hey."

"Oh, hey, I'm sorry about that. That wasn't about you, that was just. For me." She looked a lot less confident than I'd just seen her, and a lot more upset.

"Who were those guys?"

She stopped at her locker, and I decided to wait with her and talk. "Valon and Alister. Two guys in a motorcycle gang – yeah, I know. Alister hates my boyfriend, Valon hates my brother, so naturally I'm a target."

"That's not fair. You didn't do anything. Do your brother and boyfriend know they do that?"

Serenity shook her head. "Nah. I'm not sure which of them would react worse. I'd rather just handle it on my own. Besides, the counselor here likes me, I've gone to her when they got bad before."

I was about to insist she tell someone else – my experience with school counselors wasn't a positive one – but she cut me off, shutting her locker. "Hey, are you busy tonight?"

Before I could think, I blurted out, "No." I mean, I was never busy. My only friend was my dead brother. But I really didn't like hanging out and trying to make _new_ friends.

"Oh, good, my friends do this thing at a local café, it's a weird mini musical thing. Anyway, my brother wrote it and two of my best friends are the leads so I have to go. Can you come? I promise, even if you hate the show, the place serves great coffee."

"Say yes, Yugi. I want to go." I nearly jumped out of my skin. I hadn't heard Yami pop back up; usually I feel his presence, but this time, I was distracted.

"Um." I looked over at him, a little taken aback by his eagerness. "Okay, I guess. I mean, Grandpa doesn't want me out too late, so I might have to go home after, but…"

Serenity smiled wide and nodded. "That's totally understandable. I'll meet you outside after school? We can go together from here."

"Yeah, that works." I nodded as the late bell rang. "Damn, gotta go! See you later." I ran to class.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : I hope you all enjoyed that! I was going to have Weevil and Rex be the bullies but I thought this would be a little interesting. Valon and Alister are actually faves of mine, so I'm not just hating or anything. Next chapter is going to be meeting the rest of the supporting characters! I'm deciding if I want to do what happens next in all Yami's POV, both of them, or just do them in two different chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairing:** Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Dragonshipping (Yami/Joey), Chaseshipping (Duke/Tristan), Silentshipping (Seto/Serenity)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 4):** 1,150

 **Author's Notes:** Fun fact: I finished this an hour after uploading chapter 3. I don't know why I did. It just happened. But I wanted to wait to post it. I hope you enjoy, I stuck with Yugi's POV but next chapter might be the one where I switch mid-chapter!

* * *

 **Yugi** :

During last period, I got called into the Vice Principal's office. I was given a hall pass and as I was walking through the empty hallway, I glared at Yami.

" _What did you do?_ "

"Nothing, I swear. I just scared them! No one got hurt, and I made sure enough kids saw you not be the last student in the room with them."

I didn't know if I should ask how exactly he scared them, so I held back. "Yami, you can't do that. Even if I'm nowhere to be seen, it's going to get blamed on me. I just got here, I really can't risk getting kicked out. I just want to finish my last two years of high school in peace!"

I didn't realize my voice had gotten loud until a teacher poked her head out and shushed me. "Sorry," I mumbled, walking faster.

"I'm sorry, Yugi, I just couldn't stand what they were doing. All I did was blow up a couple of beakers. But, like I said, no one got hurt. They weren't dangerous chemicals and I contained the glass enough where they didn't get hurt." He pouted and shook his head. "I should let you take care of this on your own. You don't need me blowing through the VP's window and getting you in more trouble."

"Yami, that's not what I –" He misted out, and next thing I knew, I couldn't feel or see him next to me. "—meant," I finished to myself. I was never sure where he went when he did that. Part of me thought he went back to the Shadow Realm, the realm where the dead lives, but for all I knew he could have just went home.

I got to the office, and was told by a receptionist to sit down and wait. I did, and there was one other student there waiting. She was taller than me and easily the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She had short brown hair and blue eyes were scanning a magazine. She looked like she gave no damns about having to sit outside the office.

She noticed me, I guess I must have been staring, and smiled. "Hey. What're you in for?" she asked with a wink.

"Aren't you supposed to not ask that question?"

Her eyebrows furrowed and she smiled. "I think that's only in like, real jail. It's a fair question to ask someone who's called down to the Vice Principal's office on the first day."

"Then I could ask you the same thing, can't I?"

She shut her magazine and leaned in. "I accidentally beheaded my math teacher."

I raised my eyebrows. "I set an ancient curse on my whole history class."

She giggled and I bit back a smile. I didn't date, I never did and never wanted to. I mean, girls were intimidating and I was a freak, those didn't mix. But this moment, if this is what flirting was, it wasn't so bad.

The door opened and out came a younger teenager who looked a little bit like the girl sitting next to me. He crossed his arms and she stood up. "How much trouble is he in?"

"Not much, today, Miss Gardner. But as I explained to Jaden, getting sent here on his first day isn't a good sign." I looked down at my feet. "I wish you the best. Please give your parents a hello from me."

The girl, _Miss Gardner_ , nodded. "Come on, Jay, I'll walk you back to class."

"This is so unfair. Chazz never gets in trouble," I heard the boy grumble. As they passed, she waved at me.

"Mr. Mutou, please come inside."

The Vice Principal, Mr. Banner, seemed like a calming presence, but I was still nervous. If you can't tell already, my experience with authority has never been good. I followed him in and sat down in the seat designated.

"Yugi, can I call you Yugi?" I nodded. "Okay, Yugi, do you know why you're here?" I shook my head. "At the end of first period, the chemistry lab seemed to have experienced a couple of…accidents, let's say. Two boys were found in there once the janitor got the door unlocked, and they blamed it all on you."

If Yami wasn't dead, I'd kill him.

"Now, I know these two boys, and I know they're troublemakers, so I took their story with a grain of salt. However, I do need to look into this to make sure you did not have any involvement, after all. Your teacher, Mr. Buonaparte, said he thinks he saw you leave with the rest of the class but I must ask you where you were between classes."

"I was outside in the hallway, at the lockers," I said, my throat dry.

"I see. Is there anyone who can confirm this?"

"Um. Serenity…" I didn't know Serenity's last name. This didn't look good. "I don't know her last name. Um, auburn hair, kinda tall?"

Mr. Banner nodded, picking up his phone to the receptionist. "Yes, can you get me Miss Wheeler? No, you heard me right, _Miss_."

We sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until Serenity came in, looking nervous. She took in the scene with furrowed eyebrows. "You wanted to see me, Mr. Banner?"

"Yes, good afternoon, Serenity. I'm sorry to pull you from class, but I needed to ask this. Was Yugi with you immediately following your chemistry class?" Serenity nodded, not even hesitating. "And he stayed with you until the next bell?"

"Yes, we were together the whole time. Lost track of time and I was even late for PE."

Mr. Banner nodded and smiled. "Well, there we have it. I will report to Principal Crowler that it was just those two vandalizing after all. What a shame, blaming the new student." He shook his head in disbelief. "You two may return to class."

I got up and Serenity waited for me by the door. "What was that about?"

"Apparently those two idiots, Valon and Alister locked the teachers out of the chem lab and blew stuff up." I shrugged. "Decided to blame me when I wasn't even there."

She looked at me as if she didn't fully believe me. Then she just shrugged and smiled. "Well. If Crowler's getting involved, they may be getting suspended, even. Good." She turned towards the stairs. "We're still on for after school right?"

I nodded, even though I wasn't sure I wanted to be. "Yeah, see you then."

When she began to disappear up the stairs, I felt a familiar presence. "You didn't get in trouble, did you?"

"No, Serenity covered for me." Which I knew had been his plan all along, but I didn't push it. "You better enjoy this musical thing, because there's no way I can bail now that she saved me from suspension."

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : I'm really glad I decided Serenity was going to be the friend he makes first. If you can't already gather, Yugi has trust issues and isn't the friendly guy he is in the show. I also did that thing I do where I shout-out GX characters because I like them and I can. They're not big characters, I just wanted to make them characters you may know instead of just OCs.

PS -I just had a mini freakout thinking my computer might have a virus. I don't think it actually did, but I overreact easily to things. If I'm still concerned in a couple of days, I'll call my aunt. She's good with these things. I backed up my fics and things just in case I lose anything/have to reset the computer somehow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairin** gs: Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Dragonshipping (Yami/Joey), Chaseshipping (Tristan/Duke), Silentshipping (Seto/Serenity)

 **Rating** : T

 **Words (Chapter 5)** : 934

 **Author's Notes** : These chapters just keep ending up longer than I thought they'd be so I'm still not up to the part where I'll switch back into Yami's POV. I'm sorry about that, guys, but things are happening. I write sometimes and it's just different from what I expected in the last chapter, but I don't want to edit things down that matter or make these chapters incredibly long. I'm trying to keep it at an average 1,000 with the occasional one up to 1,500. Anyway, I hope you guys like this. Thank you for everyone who reviews/faves!

* * *

 **Yugi** :

"I still wish I could get out of this," I mumbled under my breath at my locker. After Serenity saved me from getting in trouble (for something Yami did, but I didn't want to keep pointing that out to him – he'd pouted up until the bell rang) I knew I couldn't back out of going with her to see her friends in a musical play thingy at the café.

That didn't mean I didn't still wish I _could_ back out of it.

In a way, though, it was more than just gratitude keeping me going. Yami seemed very excited to go to this thing, which in my mind didn't make sense. Since when did he care about musicals? I momentarily wondered if maybe he had a crush on Serenity – it had been him to even remember her – but shook that thought. No, my brother couldn't have a crush on anyone. That'd be weird. He was dead.

I looked up at him and realized he wasn't actually paying attention to me. He was leaning against the lockers, eyes scanning the people passing by. It was almost as if he was looking for someone. I shook my head at him, grabbing my stuff I'd need for homework that night (because I already had homework, how ridiculous was that?) and shutting the locker.

Yami did follow me as I started walking, I realized, but he still was looking around. I meant to ask him about it when we got outside, but as soon as we did, I was met with Serenity bouncing on her heels. "Oh, hi, I didn't expect you'd be waiting out here."

She smiled at me and shrugged. "My locker is almost right next to the stairs this year. Helps to make a fast getaway before crowding, it seems." I nodded, mine was in the middle of the hallway but I was small enough to move through kids. "We're just waiting for one more person and then we can go."

"Your boyfriend?"

She giggled and shook her head. "Close, but no, my boyfriend is a senior so he has less classes. It's his brother, actually."

I nodded again, moving closer to the wall so I didn't get knocked over. A few minutes passed until the person Serenity was waiting for came by, a boy as tall as me with long, dark hair. "Hey, Serenity!" he greeted cheerfully, eyes widening when he noticed me. "Oh, uh, hi. I'm Mokuba. Are you coming with us?" His eyes darted from me back to her and I shuffled my feet.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Cool! Alright, come on, the driver should be here by now." He walked ahead of us, Serenity and I following. It took me a moment to make sure I heard correctly.

"Driver? Is that like, your brother?" I asked, though after following him through the crowd and noticing he was walking up to a black limousine, I came to the conclusion it was not his brother driving him. It was an actual driver. "Oh. Never mind, then."

He opened the door before the driver could get out and open it for him, but after we piled in, the door closed firmly. I looked around for a minute, trying to catch Yami's eyes, but he seemed to be avoiding mine. He sat next to me, staring up at the open sunroof.

"Uh, Serenity? Who's your boyfriend?" I knew I could have asked that a lot more dignified, but I couldn't help how it just came out.

She and Mokuba shared a glance and she hesitated. He spoke up instead. "Uh, ever hear of the Kaiba family?"

I froze. The way he said it, he knew I'd clearly heard of them and not just because they were richer than kings. (Okay, that was probably a huge exaggeration, but still. ) I turned to glare at Yami, but he'd placed himself next to Serenity, so there was no way I could without it looking like I was glaring at her.

"Yeah. Yeah, I have."

Seto Kaiba, who I'd finally just realized was clearly Mokuba's brother and Serenity's boyfriend, had been the one to… Well, there was no way to put it but bluntly. He was the reason I wasn't dead.

When I'd had my incident, as everyone called it, and I tried to drown myself, Seto freaking Kaiba had been the one to jump into the water and save me. I didn't remember the event, but being that it was _Seto freaking Kaiba_ , it had been everywhere. My parents and Yami both confirmed it when I'd asked, Yami giving me more of the truth.

Clearly these two knew the situation. I suddenly felt like my heart was in my throat. This is why I didn't try to make friends. I had honestly started thinking maybe Serenity was just nice, but this was too much of a…coincidence? Was that even the right word? She'd played it off like she just wanted to catch up, yet here she was, not telling me that her boyfriend had been the guy who saved my life.

They both looked as uncomfortable as I felt angry, and seeing those scared looks on such innocent looking faces (rich, coming from me) was a little guilt-inducing.

"That reaction is probably why she didn't tell you, Yugi." Figures, now he'd speak up.

I didn't know what to say, but I took a deep breath and nodded. "So, what's this café like? Do they serve good pastries?" The others in the car looked a little relieved. I was just wondering when I could go back home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairing:** Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Dragonshipping (Yami/Joey), Chaseshipping (Duke/Tristan), Silentshipping (Seto/Serenity)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 6):** 1,098

 **Author's Notes:** Happy one monthaversary to this fic! I posted chapter 1 on August 15 and now I'm posting 6 on September 15. It's pretty cool. I actually had this and chapter 7 written into one, but it bothered me how long it was (exactly 2,000 words) so I split them up. I hope you guys like this, and thank you for reading this far. I appreciate all my readers and I try to answer every review I get!

* * *

 **Yugi** :

The ride to the café passed mostly in silence. I tried not to look too angry or uncomfortable anymore, but it still felt like Serenity and Mokuba were too worried about upsetting me to really talk. Serenity had asked me my café order and then typed on her phone. Yami kept staring out the window, occasionally glancing back at me.

I wasn't mad, per se, I was just very confused. Something seemed a little fishy, that the very first and so far, only friend I'd made at Domino High was Seto Kaiba's girlfriend, and she insisted we hang out today. I wondered if her boyfriend was one of the people who was going to be there today at the café, though he certainly didn't seem like the kind of guy to take part in a musical at a local café.

I was brought out of my own thoughts and suspicions when the limo stopped and the door was opened. I had briefly forgotten we were in a car with a _driver_ who was there to open our doors for us, it was pretty weird. Mokuba got out first, thanking the driver, and I followed. Serenity came out after me and thanked the driver as well. I felt a little awkward that I hadn't done that yet, and I sheepishly gave my own.

"Come on inside, I'm sure everyone else is already getting ready for it," she told me, walking ahead a little bit.

I lagged behind, stopping when I noticed Yami hadn't moved. He was standing awkwardly where the limo had just pulled away and I raised my eyebrow at him. "Are you coming, or what? It was your idea to say yes."

He looked almost nervous, but nodded and came to walk next to me. I didn't know if I should question him or not.

When we got through the doors into the café, I noticed Serenity and Mokuba had already made their way to a table with other teenagers. I saw, unfortunately, that Seto Kaiba was among them, which made me reluctant to walk over there.

"Cinnamon chai latte?" I turned to the voice, eyes widening a bit as I noticed the girl from Vice Principal Banner's office, Miss Gardner. Only now, she was in an apron and hat, and her name tag said Téa.

"Uh…" I dumbly looked around, seeing no one get up for the drink.

She laughed a bit. "I think it's for you, silly."

"But I didn't order anything," I protested. Weirdly enough, I actually almost always got a cinnamon chai latte at cafés like this.

She tilted her head at me. "Didn't you tell Serenity this is what you drink?"

It suddenly struck me and I wondered why I didn't piece it together before. "Oh, yes, sorry. Guess I didn't realize she was ordering ahead." I moved to go in my bag, looking for my wallet. "How much?"

"Oh, she took care of it already. Don't worry about it." I looked up at Téa and then back at the table.

"Oh, okay, I'll go thank her, then. It was good to see you."

Téa smiled at me and nodded. "You too. I'm glad you didn't get expelled for that ancient curse."

I blushed a little and chuckled. "Yeah, so am I." I took the drink and walked over to the table, where Serenity looked up.

"There you are! I thought you'd bailed after all." I didn't want to admit how ready to bail I'd actually been, so I didn't say anything. "Here, take that seat. Tristan, move your bag for him! Oh, wait, you two don't know each other. Yugi, this is Tristan."

The other boy at the table, who was about as tall as Kaiba with hazel eyes and a more prominent hairdo, smiled as he moved his bag onto the floor. "Nice to meet you. How'd you get suckered into watching this train wreck?" he asked, motioning to the makeshift stage the table was facing.

"Tristan, that's not nice! They worked really hard on it!"

I decided there that I might actually like Tristan, he seemed funny. "I wasn't busy and Serenity asked," I said with a shrug. I didn't want to really explain much further than that.

"Yugi and I are in the same Chem class, we're lab partners this year," Serenity added on, as if she needed to explain why she was actually talking to me. Kaiba gave me a once-over that almost made me think I needed an excuse to be sitting at this table, and I glared at him in response.

"We should drive him home later, Seto. We drove him here." I'd almost forgotten Mokuba was there; the younger boy had been digging into a piece of cake that looked at least twice the size of a regular slice.

"No, I'll be fine, it's not that far from here to home," I lied. I actually had no idea where here was, seeing as I'd never been and I didn't pay attention to the signs before I walked in.

Before anyone else could say anything, the lights dimmed and a blond teenage boy came out and introduced the show. I didn't pay attention to what he was saying, because Yami had finally appeared next to me again and I was trying to rack my brain to see where I knew him from. I knew I did, it just wasn't clicking where.

Then it did. Serenity's brother. Serenity Wheeler's brother. _Joey Wheeler_. AKA my best friend from when I used to visit Grandpa and play with them and the guy who'd indirectly saved my life.

Joey Wheeler the medium who my brother had reached out to when I jumped off the bridge to drown myself. Joey Wheeler the medium who'd called up Seto Kaiba who in turn, dove into the water to save the drowning suicide case.

I wanted to get up, to move, but something was holding me down. At first, I thought it was shock, until I realized it was Yami, who'd somehow taken over my legs without my permission and was keeping me rooted to my chair.

I tried to fidget away, throw him out, but I had a moment of distraction when Joey walked off the stage and the curtains opened to Téa. She had changed out of her uniform into a flowy dress and as the first musical number started, she began to move around the stage in a fluid motion. It was almost captivating and since I couldn't move anyway, I began to watch as I sipped my latte.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Next chapter will be Yugi's POV once again, and then 8 is going to start Yami. I hope you all enjoyed this one! If you can, let me know what you think! Both chapters 7 and 8 are finished, so keep your eyes peeled! I'm trying to write as much as I can while I'm ahead of my schoolwork! Also, I have another chaptered work I'm really excited to be starting but I'm worried about reactions, it has a prominent female OC.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairing:** Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Dragonshipping (Yami/Joey), Chaseshipping (Duke/Tristan), Silentshipping (Seto/Serenity)

 **Rating:** T

 **Words (Chapter 7):** 904

 **Author's Notes:** So, if you read my other ANs, you'll know this was supposed to be part of chapter 6 but I thought it was too long, so I made it its own thing. Because of that, it seems a little rushed, so I hope that doesn't deter anyone. Thank you again for sticking with me on this!

* * *

 **Yugi** :

From what I could gather, the story was a forbidden love thing, and Téa was the maiden who wanted freedom from a very overprotected life. Her love interest, who was played by a guy who looked very attractive, except that he had a bad scar running from his eye down his cheek, made a plan to kill the parents and run away together, but then Téa's character realized he was evil and trying to just take her family's fortune and had to trick him into killing himself instead. There were a couple of songs and dances, but it wasn't very long, and frankly, it was almost enjoyable. Almost.

Tristan, who had previously referred to it as a train wreck, got up immediately when it was over and began clapping and whooping. He was joined in by Serenity and Mokuba, whereas Kaiba clapped politely but stayed seated. I decided to stand up, clapping a bit, making note that Yami was back to being next to me. "Don't ever do that again," I warned, and despite the cloud's applause, I knew he'd heard me.

I was about to make an excuse as to why I now needed to run off once the table had settled down, but I couldn't get a word out before the two leads of the play and Joey came over.

"How was I?" Téa asked everyone, and I nodded in with their compliments. "So the way I messed up on that second number wasn't obvious?"

"Téa, you were fine. No one cared if you took the step left or right, they wouldn't even know which way it was supposed to be," the male lead said, moving to sit on Tristan's lap. They shared a kiss and I tried not to look, feeling like I was intruding.

Joey caught my eye and he looked like he was torn between saying something or just glaring. I took a deep breath, thinking to myself that I'd had enough of all this for one day, and opened my mouth. "Good show, guys, but I really need to get going. Promised Grandpa I'd be back for dinner."

"Yugi, wait." The voice calling as I turned on my heel and left was a weird mixture of Yami and Serenity, though no one else at that table would have heard Yami's. Except Joey. I made it to the front and outside, hand gripping the coffee I didn't even realize I'd grabbed, before the others followed me out. Serenity was practically running, and she made it out first, Kaiba, Joey, and the black-haired guy being the last of them.

"You don't want to hang out anymore?" Serenity asked.

I took a deep breath, feeling my temper rising. I couldn't help it. I felt like I'd been jerked around and ambushed from the moment Serenity sat down next to me. Her, Mokuba, Téa, Kaiba, Joey, everything seemed to be connected back to my suicide attempt.

"Why don't we all just cut the crap and you guys tell me why I was even invited out today? And please, don't try and pretend you actually want to be my friend."

"Because that's so hard to believe?" Téa asked, looking a little hurt.

"Yes. So stop pulling my chain and just be honest."

They looked around at each other, all making awkward eye contact. "Yugi, you're being very harsh," Yami's voice came through, but I didn't even want to look at him.

I waited for them to say something – any of them to say anything – but no one seemed to want to. I caught eyes with the male lead from the play, whose name I still hadn't gotten. "You know, you should really get that cut checked out." I'd thought it was a scar, but now it looked red and inflamed since we were closer.

His eyes widened and everyone turned to look at him.

"What cut?" Kaiba asked, but he ignored him.

"You can see it? What does it look like?"

I raised my eyebrow at him before shaking my head. They had to be messing around with me. I turned to leave again, but Tristan stopped me this time.

"Wait! Okay, fine, we need your help."

"What would you need my help with?" I asked, but Yami had walked closer to the green-eyed boy with the scar and it hit me like a truck. "You've got to be kidding me. No one else can see that cut, can they?" When I was met with silence, I sighed angrily. "What the hell did you guys do?"

"Well, there, you got us. You figured it out. We were attacked by some spirit ghost thing, and now we're screwed. You know more about that than anyone, because, well…" Mokuba trailed off, looking back at his brother.

For a moment I thought they were yanking my chain again, until I locked eyes with Yami. They really were in trouble; it was written all over his face.

"I'm sorry. I can't help you," I answered, moving to walk away.

"Hey, no you don't. My friends saved your life, now it's time you pay them back. We need you, no one else knows what's happening with this." Tristan grabbed my hand, pressing it to his abdomen when he said _this_ , and immediately I felt a sharp pain shoot through me. I yelled out, clenching my eyes shut, and before I knew it, I was passed out cold.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Aaaaaand finally, I will be back to Yami's POV next chapter. Thank you all for being such wonderful readers. You're so patient.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairings** : Peachshipping, Dragonshipping. Chaseshipping, Silentshipping

 **Rating** : T

 **Words (Chapter 8):** 1,100

 **Author's Notes** : It only took me since like, chapter 2, but I'm back to Yami's POV! I really thought this part of the fic would come up quicker than chapter 8, but I think the problem is that I was trying to not do super long chapters in this fic and as such, breaking it up meant pushing things back.

* * *

 **Yami** :

I stared in horror as Yugi collapsed in Tristan's arms, as did everyone else around us.

"Oh my God," Mokuba yelled.

"Tristan, what did you do?" Téa asked, glaring at him. She was actually kind of scary when she was mad.

"I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time. He could see Duke's cut, figured he could feel the energy from mine."

Tristan looked frantic and I almost felt bad for him, despite wanting to simultaneously hit him for causing that to happen to Yugi. He was holding my brother up to keep him from falling on the ground.

"Uh, guys?" Serenity motioned to where a couple of cops were pulling up in their squad car.

"This doesn't look good," Duke chimed in.

"Yeah, no kidding, thanks for pointing that out," Kaiba answered.

With everyone freaking out and Yugi not seeming like he was about to wake up any time soon, I did the only thing I could think of. He couldn't get angrier at me than he already was, anyway.

Wearing a living person's body was weird no matter how many times I'd done it. Yugi and I fit almost seamlessly, but a body was a lot heavier than I remember each time. It took me a moment to get used to it, but when I did, I pushed Tristan back a little rougher than I'd intended, fidgeting a bit.

They all stared at me, some in concern, some in confusion. "Yugi?" Téa spoke up and it took me a moment to respond. Oh. Right. I was Yugi.

"Not Yugi." I turned to the voice, locking eyes with Joey. I felt the rush of a heart flutter and heat rising to my cheeks and I knew Yugi would want to kill me if he knew what was going on in his body because of me.

I shook my head but before I could say more, the officers were walking towards us. "Is everything alright here, kids?" He was young, and seemed friendly enough, but his partner looked middle aged and miserable.

"Yeah, we're good," Téa answered, smiling at him, though she kept glancing back at me nervously. I noticed Duke try to nudge her, but I think the damage had been done.

The older officer looked me up and down. "Mutou, right? We're not already having _issues_ with you, are we?"

I tried not to glare at him and the way he said ' _issues_ ,' but I almost forgot he could see my facial expressions now. Worse than that, he was seeing them on Yugi's face, which means he'd be the one to get in trouble. "No, sir. I was just about to leave."

"Actually, we all were," Joey piped in. "So without any more issues, let's all just go and we won't waste anymore of anyone's time." A couple of the group members nodded along with him and slowly turned to leave.

The older officer stopped Kaiba before we could all get away. "Mr. Kaiba, I must insist you start hanging out with friends a little more…" he looked at all of us, disgust not even slightly hidden, "up your alley. Your father would not be pleased with this latest development."

"If you don't tell him, he doesn't have to be displeased," Kaiba answered easily, walking away from him.

We all made our way to the parking lot of the café, and watched carefully as the officers got back in the car and drove away.

"So it's really not Yugi in there?" Mokuba asked, staring up at me.

"Don't be silly, Mokuba. Of course it is. This whole thing is junk."

"It's not junk!" both me and Joey yelled at him together, heat rising to Yugi's face when I noticed.

"Whatever's going on with you guys, it's not supernatural and Mutou doesn't even want to help. So, I'll be taking my brother and girlfriend home and calling that doctor back."

"Seto, doctors can't help. They don't see anything. They think I'm faking," Mokuba protested. He looked at me and lifted up his shirt. "What do you see?"

I saw a wound festering and oozing just like Duke's, but it was a lot larger and stretched up his side. I told him as much and the shorter boy looked up at his brother pointedly.

"Look, how about we all take the night to relax?" Serenity suggested. "When Yugi comes to again, he's not going to want us to be staring at him, forcing him to make a decision."

"Serenity, Yugi's awake, he's right _there_." Duke motioned at me and Seto nodded. She ignored them.

"Yami?" I was shocked. None of them had actually addressed me yet. I turned to her, a little grateful. "Do you think you could help convince him?"

I nodded, looking from her to her brother. "I'll do what I can."

She smiled gratefully. "Thank you. We'll let you get home now. Do you want a ride after all?"

"Duke and I can take him, sis." Joey had to step on Duke's foot to stop the obvious objection to the idea. "Don't stay out too late. You know how Mom gets."

Serenity nodded, hugging her brother which led everyone else into goodbyes. I tried not to watch Duke and Tristan's, wondering how something like a kiss would feel and knowing I'd never experience it for real.

I awkwardly followed Duke and Joey to a blue convertible, getting in the backseat. I was behind Duke, which gave me and Joey a way to glance back and forth to each other.

It was probably weird for him, seeing me but not actually seeing _me_. I had never asked how much his friends knew about me, but now I felt uncomfortable trying to talk in front of Duke.

"So like. That's really Yugi's brother and not him in there?" Duke asked about halfway through the ride, when the motorcycle Tristan had been riding on was no longer in view.

"Yeah. It really is," I answered. "Yami, if you don't mind."

He looked at me in the rearview mirror and then at Joey. "So this ghost and spirit thing, it's all real? Like, really real? They can hurt us and all that? It's not just sad ghosts reaching out to you to tell their loved ones to move on?"

At first I thought the last part was to me, because that was something Yugi and I used to do before the incident, but then I noticed he kept looking at Joey still.

"It's really real," Joey answered. "And you guys need help."

Duke nodded. "Well. Shit."

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : I don't know where I'm going to pick up next chapter. I want to write what's going on with Yugi in his unconscious state, but I also want to give more attention to Yami. Hm. Decisions, decisions. I haven't written it yet...whoops. So much for me staying ahead of the game, am I right?


	9. Chapter 9

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairings** : Peachshipping, Dragonshipping. Chaseshipping, Silentshipping

 **Rating** : T

 **Words (Chapter 9):** 1,000

 **Author's Notes** : Since I couldn't decide if I wanted to do this as Yugi or Yami, I did both! I hope you enjoy, it's the first time I've done that so far. I know I took forever on this. I'm sorry. I know I also said the romance wouldn't be the main focus, but there's a bit of it in this chapter, along with some more of the supernatural.

* * *

 **Yugi** :

I almost thought I was back to consciousness, until I realized I was still surrounded by black. I tried to stand, but I couldn't. I couldn't even move my limbs.

I turned my head as I felt a rush of cold fly past me. I heard a deep, throaty laugh come from the other side and I turned it that way.

"Poor little Yugi, going to leave his friends for dead," the voice echoed in the dark. "But they're not _your_ friends, are they?"

There was something off about the voice. It wasn't alive, I knew that much, but there was something more. Something I was having trouble pinpointing.

Before I could dwell on it, a scene was playing out in front of me. The group was all together outside the café again, just as they had been when I passed out, but this time I was with them and they were all laughing. No, wait. That wasn't me with them.

It was Yami.

"They'd all prefer it was him, you know. Not you."

So what? It didn't matter. It's not like they were my friends anyway.

"They won't last long," the voice said, and suddenly it was black again and the bodies of the seven living teenagers who I'd just watched were strewn across the…room? Space? I didn't even know.

They all had varying degrees of cuts and wounds, but they were all dead.

"I will slaughter each and every one of them, Seer. There's nothing you can do to stop me."

No, that's not true. I was a Seer; I could see and hear ghosts, I could feel them and fight them. Yami and I could together.

"Your brother won't be helping you, little one. Why should he? He could be so much more free without you…"

Suddenly, Yami was in the blackness as well, eyes bright red and manic. He had a disturbing smile on his face and his hands were made into claws, and I noticed Téa wasn't dead after all. But he was hovering over her, hand outstretched and making her body convulse.

I wanted to be sick, but I couldn't connect with my own body to do that.

"They think you two are their saviors. They'll see how wrong they are."

Then the scene faded and everything was back to black.

 **Yami** :

After Duke dropped us off (and I needed an almost embarrassing amount of help getting out of his car) on a corner, I looked awkwardly at Joey. I knew from experience where we were; if I walked two blocks up, I'd be at the game shop and the apartment building where the Wheelers lived was about six to the left. I didn't always have to take the 'scenic route' when going from Grandpa's to his place, but I often did. Sometimes, it made me feel like I was alive.

Until an alley cat hissed at me or a lone pedestrian walked through me, of course.

"You could have made him drop us closer to your place, I feel bad that you have to walk now."

"You have to walk, too," he pointed out a little sheepishly.

I let out a small chuckle. "Oh, yeah. Forgot about that." I awkwardly lifted one of Yugi's legs, they still felt so stiff and heavy.

"It's weird," Joey muttered, voice lower than before.

"Hm?"

"Getting to like, see you, and have you here in the flesh, but not…your flesh. That sounds dumb."

I shrugged, biting my – Yugi's lip. "I get what you mean. It's always weird, having his body, feeling real."

"You're always real."

I looked up at Joey, who seemed more than a little bothered at the way I was talking about myself. He'd responded so fast; it even took me a moment to process. "You know what I mean. It's weird being solid."

"But you're real even when you're not solid," he persisted.

I couldn't help the shy smile. "Thank you, Joey." I reached out cautiously to grab his hand, which almost made me jump when he took it. Being able to feel his palm against mine, feel his heartbeat radiating off of his wrist…even though it wasn't really me touching him, it was me feeling.

I don't know how long I'd stood there, staring at his hand in mine, but I shifted my eyes to him after a bit. "I can feel Yugi stirring. He's going to be really confused…"

Joey nodded and pursed his lips. "Maybe you should get home." My face began to fall and he quickly continued. "Not that I really want you to, but your brother will probably feel at least slightly better if he wakes up in his own house, you know? Not on the street hold—"

He looked at our hands and I felt the blood rush to my face. This was such an odd feeling. How did the living ever deal with the excess embarrassment of a blush when you already felt so awkward? "You're right, actually. That's a really good point."

Joey bit his lip and slowly began to pull his hand from mine. I didn't want this to end yet, but I knew for Yugi's sake, it had to. For multiple reasons, the fact that I was in his body holding hands with my crush not being the least of them. "Before we go, then," I started, a moment of bravery coming over me. I wasn't usually afraid of things, but of this, I was uncertain – but I had to take a chance. "Can we just do one thing? One thing I don't think I'll ever get the chance to do again?"

Joey gave me a confused look, eyebrows furrowing together quite adorably, before realization hit and he blushed himself. Good. At least I wasn't the only one feeling that kind of way during this interaction.

"Did you mean…?"

"Yeah, I mean…"

I was part of the supernatural, but I didn't believe in magic. At least, I hadn't until that very moment.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : I hope you all enjoyed my really cheesy little Dragonshipping here. (Yes, he was referring to a kiss. I'm ridiculous.) So, I just checked the book I was inspired by for this fic and last chapter is only up to about page 50 of a little less than 300. I hadn't remembered the book was so long or realized how I used up 8 chapters to expand on 50 pages of the book. My bad. Anyway, I don't think I'm going to rush this but I also don't see it lasting for that many chapters. We'll see how it goes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairings** : Peachshipping, Dragonshipping. Chaseshipping, Silentshipping

 **Rating** : T

 **Words (Chapter 10):** 1,500

 **Author's Notes** : I am so incredibly sorry for the wait. Three months, oh gosh, please forgive me! This took me so long to be able to write. If you're reading my other chaptered stories, you'll know it's because I'd been very busy with school and life. If you aren't, well, now you know. I thank you all for being patient with me. I appreciate my readers and everything they do! Hopefully you didn't give up on this story just yet.

* * *

 **Yami** :

Yugi stirred and let out a small grunt. I watched him from my usual spot on the windowsill as he laid in bed, waiting.

I'd gotten home only about ten minutes ago. Grandpa noticed right away it was me, but I made up some excuse about Yugi needing rest from a long first day in order to cover what was happening. I didn't want to tell him about what really happened; he'd worry more than before and I still wasn't sure if Yugi would even want to help the group. No use worrying Grandpa if he wasn't – or worse, if Grandpa thought we should help, Yugi'd be stuck helping. He wouldn't forgive me for either of those scenarios.

"What time is it?" I heard my brother's groggy voice. He still hadn't opened his eyes.

"Almost 6."

"Did Grandpa make dinner yet?"

"He's doing it now."

Yugi took a deep breath, slowly opening his eyes and sitting up. "How'd we get home?"

"Duke drove us about halfway between here and Joey's. I walked the rest of the way." He nodded but otherwise stayed quiet. "What happened?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

I shrugged. "You passed out. I'm sorry for jumping into you without permission. I just didn't know what to do. You were out cold and there was a cop, a very rude one, I may add… We just didn't want to gain any attention."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I needed it, I wouldn't have gotten home without it anyway. Couldn't exactly have Joey Wheeler walk in carrying me, unconscious, and expect Grandpa to be just fine."

I looked away at the mention of Joey, glad I couldn't blush anymore. That was a terribly inconvenient side effect of being alive, I noticed.

"We should talk about the ambush.'

I sighed, squeezing my eyes shut. "Can you please not refer to it as that?"

"You knew."

"Not all the details. I just knew they needed your help and that Joey was the one who wrote the play. That's why I wanted to see it."

There was a moment of silence. "Yami. Look at me." I didn't obey. "Please." I slowly turned my head to look at him. "Do you… talk to him?"

"Define _talk_."

"Yami." I didn't like when he got serious with me. I always assumed I'd have been the older one, I'm taller anyway (okay, yes, I make myself taller because you can do that in the Shadow Realm, but that's not the _point_ ) but right now, I felt like a kid in trouble. "You know what I mean."

I looked back out the window. "Yes, I do."

"How long?" I shrugged. His tone was almost accusing; I didn't want to continue this conversation. I had to, though, he deserved to know at least about the kiss… oh, god, he'd be so mad at me for that one… "Since before the… incident?" he asked.

"No, only since that night."

He was quiet and I looked over at him, noticing he was avoiding looking at me. He sighed and shook his head, getting off the bed and walking towards the desk.

"Why are you angry?" I asked quietly.

"I'm not."

The bond was telling me different. "You could've fooled me."

He got one of his textbooks out, placing it onto the desk with a thud. Why were those things so heavy? It was ridiculous and made my (Yugi's) back hurt. Stupid textbook.

"I'm not angry," he said, quieter and gentler this time. "Just a little… I don't know. Hurt? Upset?"

"Why?"

"Because since when do you go around talking to other people?" he asked, turning around in his chair. He was back to looking angry.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Since I _could_? He's the one other person I know who can hear me, Yugi. Not even Grandpa can! It felt nice to be able to connect with someone, especially when you couldn't."

"He doesn't even like me, did you see the way he was looking at me?"

"It's not that he doesn't like you."

"He was glaring at me."

"He's just protective."

"Of what?"

I moved to lay on the bed (well, hover on the bed, so I wouldn't fall through) and stared up at the ceiling.

"Oh, my god. You're kidding. You're like, a _thing_?"

I glared at him, a little insulted at the face he was making. "You don't have to sound so shocked."

"How could you not tell me?"

I didn't need to breathe, but it was fun to pretend. Such as making the very exaggerated _sighing_ sound. "I don't know. It just never seemed like the right time to focus on my love life that would never go anywhere anyway."

I heard him get up and moved so he wouldn't seem to be sitting on me when he laid down beside me. "You could have told me you were talking to him."

"You were in the hospital, and I understood why we couldn't talk. I just got lonely, though. He could always hear me, even when we were kids."

"Yeah, that's right. He did. So did Serenity, right?"

"Yeah. A few other old friends of yours did, too, even back home. But then people grow up and they stop believing in things like they used to, and I'd get blocked out."

"But not with Joey."

"His gift… I didn't even know he had it until he heard me that night. I followed you to the hospital and when you were asleep, I just needed someone to talk to. To vent to. So, I went back and we talked about you."

He was quiet for a minute before responding. "So what you've been saying about me made him hate me."

"It's not like that, Yugi. You make it sound so bad. It's just that I was extremely upset when you did that, I was distraught. You'd been shutting me out before that and then I couldn't even really talk to you after. Maybe I made it seem like my negative feelings were your fault and that's what he took, but I'll talk to him about it, make him realize that's not how it is…"

He started pulling at a loose stitch from the pillowcase behind our heads. "So you actually… _like_ him, like him?"

I had to hold back a laugh at the childlike question. "Yeah, I do."

"I didn't even know you were gay."

"Neither did I."

"I didn't know dead people could have crushes."

I did laugh this time. "Hey, aren't you the one always saying I'm real and my emotions are valid?"

He chuckled, too. "Yeah, that's true. I guess it makes sense. You are, in some ways, more of a normal teenager than I am. How the hell does my dead brother get a relationship before I do?"

"Considering how rude you were to everyone today, is that really a question?"

He huffed. "So, I'm right? You're like… in a relationship with him?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I didn't really get a chance to ask. I did, uh, do something else though…"

His eyebrows furrowed for a second before his eyes widened like saucers. "You didn't! Yami!" He sat up and made a disgusted face. "Ew! How far did you go?"

"It was just a kiss, or two, okay maybe three but the last two were really small. I promise. I'm sorry, I know it was wrong. I just knew I'd never feel it and I wanted to know what all the fuss was about."

He groaned and flopped back on the bed. "If you were alive, I'd kill you right now." He looked over at me and rolled his eyes. "Fine, I forgive you. But don't you _ever_."

"I won't. I swear." I waited until I felt him truly calm down before asking the question on my mind. "So, what do you say? Are you going to help them?"

He was quiet again for a minute, but I didn't rush him to answer. The fact that he wasn't immediately objecting was a good sign.

"Okay."

My face broke out into a smile. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I wanted to hug him.

"Don't thank me yet. You're putting in your own work for this, too. You know I can't do it alone."

"I know. I didn't expect you to."

"And they better help as well. I'm not making us do all the work and endanger ourselves without them lending a hand."

"Completely understood."

"I can't believe we're doing this. We don't know anything about the spirit they pissed off. Hell, we barely know anything about them, either." He shook his head. "This isn't going to be easy, Yami. You know that, I know that, but I don't think they know that."

"They will. Their lives are in danger; they're not going to take it lightly."

"Good. I guess you should tell your boyfriend the good news."

I didn't have to be told twice.

* * *

 **Authpr's Notes:** Okay, so this chapter was all about brother bonding because that is meant to be the core of this story. That, and the supernatural. 10 chapters in and we're ready to rock and roll because Yami's being honest with Yugi about his connection to the group which is making Yugi want to help and yay! I've been telling people, though, and putting in my notes that I have a vacation coming up and I'll be busy when I come back so I don't know when my next update will be. I'm trying, though, I promise.


	11. Chapter 11

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairings** : Peachshipping, Dragonshipping. Chaseshipping, Silentshipping

 **Rating** : T

 **Words (Chapter 11):** 1,269

 **Author's Notes** : I'd apologize for the long wait but y'all might be getting sick of those by now… I don't mean to keep you all waiting but things just get hectic and I lose my inspiration because I need to stuff it down to get other things done. But, I do take my writing seriously so I'm back. Hopefully for a while. I'm trying to update all of my fics as soon as possible because I don't want to waste my summer.

* * *

 **Yugi** :

I figured out pretty early the steps we needed to take in order to fix whatever happened. First, let Grandpa know I wasn't going to be home because I was hanging out with friends. Next, get to the bottom of exactly what happened. Third, fix it and remind the group about the dangers of messing with the dead.

Clearly, step one was the simplest. In fact, Grandpa got so excited that I apparently made friends (yeah, let's go with that) that I almost didn't get a chance to explain where I was going or how late I'd be. He insisted I stay as long as I need to so long as I didn't ignore my homework. Yeah, sure.

I didn't want to explain all the details, though; there was no need to worry him. He was already doing so much for even taking me in and keeping Yami a part of our lives…

"So, he said okay?" Serenity asked me by my locker the next day.

"Yep. Where are we going?"

"Seto's house. There's enough space for all of us and his stepdad is almost never home. Too busy running the company, you know?"

I knew, but I never gave Kaiba's stepfather any thought. I couldn't even tell you his name if you asked. "Alright. Grandpa thinks I have friends now, so he doesn't mind me staying out late."

"You do have friends." Serenity said it so simply and definite that it took me by surprise.

"Uh, thanks." I didn't believe it, really, but it was kind of a nice thought. "So, are we supposed to do a limo again?"

"Yeah, it's the easiest way to fit everyone." She looked around for a minute. "Is Yami here?" she whispered.

I looked around, too. I hadn't really put together why it was so quiet. Yami was nowhere to be found. "No, uh. I don't know where he went." Actually, I figured he was probably hanging around Joey and I tried not to let that bother me, but it wasn't my place to tell anyone else that. Especially not Joey's sister.

She nodded and we walked towards the exit. "I feel rude sometimes." I furrowed my eyebrows but before I could ask, she clarified. "If it seems like I'm ignoring him. I want to include him, you know? But I just…can't see him or hear him."

I studied her for a moment. For the most part, she seemed very sincere. But I couldn't really get over everything this easily. She'd tricked me. They'd all tricked me. I was still a little bitter. I couldn't show that too much; I did agree to help them, after all.

"Do you remember when we were little?" I asked.

A slight smile came on her face. "Yeah, I do. I remember hearing him. I couldn't see him, but I could imagine. Just pictured another you." She giggled slightly and bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I know we shouldn't have done that yesterday. We were going to ask you in private for your help but then you walked off and…" She looked down at her feet. "We do want to be your friends, Yugi. I understand why you probably don't believe that, but we do. They're a good bunch of friends to have. I know Joey and Seto especially can seem rough around the edges, but they're good guys. Trust me, I'd know."

I didn't say anything, mulling over her words in my mind as we walked to the car. Mokuba was leaning against it, playing on a handheld game system, Tristan watching over his shoulder. "Ah, good shot!" He looked up at our arrival, smiling sheepishly at me. "Hey. How do you feel?"

I shrugged. "Alright, I guess." I wasn't really comfortable looking at him just yet, the memory of the vision flashed in my head when I remembered touching his wound. I knew it wasn't his fault, how could they know I'd pass out? They definitely didn't know the vision (dream? nightmare?) but it was just uncomfortable to be reminded.

Tristan didn't push or try to apologize, which I was grateful for. Serenity had apologized a good amount of times, and last night I'd even gotten an IM on Facebook from Téa (that part wasn't so bad). I was tired of being apologized to, not that I'd tell Yami that. He'd mistake it for forgiveness. It wasn't.

"Duke forgot we were doing this today and took his car to school. He's going to drive with Joey so he doesn't have to leave it here."

"Okay, so that means we're only waiting for Téa then," Serenity said patiently, getting in. I just hoped I wasn't in for a long night.

* * *

The first time I saw Yami that day was at the Kaiba Manor. The group had settled along in the kitchen, a large, pristine room with the top appliances. He seemed like he was leaning against the wall, except for, you know. He'd actually fall through if he tried. Next to him, Kaiba did exactly that, watching the rest of us at the table with cold eyes. I could tell he still didn't believe in all of this, but he was no longer objecting.

"Well, okay, I haven't done this stuff in a while," I started, looking at their expectant eyes. I hadn't helped any spirits since before I went away, and I never really helped a group of the living handle one. "But, if you were all hurt by a spirit, we need to figure out what, or who, that spirit was."

"I thought we need to figure out how to stop these wounds that we can't even see," Mokuba asked, hand going to his side.

"Don't touch it," Yami spoke up. "Yugi, tell him not to touch it."

"Yami says to try not to touch them," I sighed. "Anyway, it's hard to actually do that without knowing _what_ attacked you. There's different types of supernatural energy, we can't fix the problem if we don't know what the problem is."

"Like, when working on a car. You don't just jump on it and start fixing the engine unless you know it's the engine," Tristan spoke, whether to understand himself or help others, I wasn't sure. "My parents own body shops," he explained as I raised an eyebrow.

Made sense. "Yeah, like that. Where'd you guys get attacked?"

"The graveyard," Téa answered a little too quickly. "We were hanging around by the graveyard."

I raised an eyebrow, looking over at Yami. He seemed to be sharing the same thoughts I was. "Bull. Where'd you find the spirit?"

"We just told you – at the cemetery," Duke snapped.

I just laughed and shook my head, still looking at my brother. "How am I supposed to help them when they refuse to be honest?"

Kaiba seemed to think I was talking to him; I'd forgotten he couldn't see Yami next to him. "My brother doesn't lie. If he said it was at the graveyard, then it was at the graveyard."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, no, they're lying." I looked around the table. "Cemeteries are safe havens for spirits to rest. They never, _never_ attack there unless insanely provoked. So, unless you're about to tell me you were digging up some bones, in which case you completely deserve whatever you're about to get, then you're not telling me the truth. So, again, why should I trust you?"

The group was silent for a minute before Serenity sighed. "It wasn't really a lie. We were by the cemetery... It just was the old asylum… by the cemetery."

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Well, I could have gone further with that but I didn't want the chapter to be too long. Besides, I made you guys wait 5 months, I didn't want to make you wait any longer. Thank you to anyone still reading, please let me know what you think.


	12. Chapter 12

**Title** : Of Blood & Spirit

 **Pairings** : Peachshipping, Dragonshipping. Chaseshipping, Silentshipping

 **Rating** : T

 **Words (Chapter 12):** 1,000

 **Author's Notes** : I finished this chapter literally a day after I finished chapter 11! I was feeling so productive during those days. I did want to wait to upload it, though, work on some other stuff. I hope you are all enjoying this. This chapter is in Yami's POV and we're going to start learning more about the Big Bad that's haunting the group.

* * *

 **Yami** :

I stared at Yugi for a minute, knowing he was about to burst. I couldn't blame him, things had just gotten a whole lot worse than we already thought they were. I looked over at Joey, whose face was blank. It wasn't often he was speechless; this was an awful sign.

"You…messed around…in an asylum?" he asked quietly, looking around at them. They all looked embarrassed about it, but Serenity looked the most ashamed.

Joey knew my world the best out of all of them. It wasn't as great as I did, or Yugi, of course, but he knew.

He knew enough to not mess with spirits in places like _asylums_.

"It was dumb, we know, but we didn't really mean for it to happen. It was a stupid dare that got out of control and we ended up just. Going in," Mokuba started, glancing nervously up at Kaiba. "Please don't be mad, Seto."

"Serenity, you know better than that," Joey whispered next to his sister. "And Tristan, what the hell? I ask you to look out for her and this is what you do?"

"Brother, don't be mad, he tried to get me to not go. I just didn't want to seem like a scaredy cat."

"And where were you, Wheeler? Clearly, you weren't there to help."

" _Clearly_ , you were missing in action, too, Kaiba, so I wouldn't be so quick to point fingers."

"I'm not the one who thinks they can talk to the dead and could've used their sixth sense to tell them all what would happen."

"You don't need to be a medium to know not to walk on into a _broken down asylum_ , for Christ's sake!"

How did the living deal with so much noise?

"Look, we screwed up. We all did. No single person is to blame," Tristan spoke up. "And the more time we waste fighting, the less we actually fix the problem."

The group quieted down, the girls looking the most ashamed still.

"Okay, so Yugi. What's the plan?" Duke asked, and they all looked at him. My brother stared back for a second before doing something I definitely didn't think he would.

He started laughing.

He didn't stop for a moment until I moved from the wall and made a sound akin to clearing my throat. "Yugi. What the hell?"

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "You guys are screwed," he spoke. "You really think I should still help you knowing that your mean spirit is actually from an asylum? I still can't even believe you'd be that dumb. You're officially the group of teenagers you yell at in a horror movie because they're walking right into the trap."

Some of them looked like they were about to fight him, but he went on. "We don't even know if this ghost is actually vicious or just off his rocker – both of which are extremely dangerous."

"No kidding," Kaiba deadpanned from the wall. "You don't exactly get put in a nuthouse for being normal."

I glared at him so hard that I wished looks could kill. Or maybe just burn that jacket.

"No offense," I heard Téa tell Yugi, but I still wasn't done being angry at Kaiba.

"Kaiba, I think you should apologize," Joey started. I knew he could feel my energy, I could imagine the negativity radiating.

Kaiba just snorted.

"No, I mean, I really think you should apologize," Joey insisted, but it was too late. The lights started flickering and the chandelier began to rattle.

There were a couple of gasps around the table but I ignored them, focused solely on Kaiba. He didn't seem to be budging at all, and if I weren't so mad, I would have been impressed. It's hard to stay that indifferent to an angry spirit making waves in your home.

He stayed with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, still leaning against the wall for a few more moments until a glass went flying at his head. He ducked in time for it to miss, scowling at the broken pieces that landed next to him. "Fine. I take it back. Happy?"

I wasn't.

But I heard Yugi call my name and I pushed down my anger. Fine. I calmed myself down, and the light hanging above the table went back to normal.

"Gozaburo's gonna be so mad about that," Mokuba whined, real fear falling on his face, and I began to regret going that far.

"Anyway," Yugi started, trying to get them back on track. "I don't know if I can help."

I looked at him, about to practically beg, when someone else started doing it for me. Téa took his hand in hers and gave him such sad, pleading eyes. "Please, Yugi. We need you. We can't do this on our own, and who knows what's going to happen to us…"

He took a second to respond before sighing. "Fine. But I need to know exactly where you guys were."

"What, like, a map?" Duke asked.

"No, I need to _go_ there."

"You just finished telling us how dangerous it is," Téa started, gently letting go of his hand. "Now you want to go there yourself?"

"No, I don't want to, but I have to. It's the only way for me to get a feel on the spirit. Like we've established, I can't be much help if I don't know what we're dealing with."

I looked around the room. None of them wanted to go back, it was obvious. Kaiba and Joey couldn't help even if they wanted to – they hadn't been there that night.

After an awkward silence, Tristan stood up. "I'll take you."

"No," Duke immediately objected, grabbing his hand. "I don't want you going back there."

"Someone has to, and I'm not letting anyone else get more hurt. I'll go." He leaned down to kiss Duke's lips softly. "I'll be fine."

"If he's not, I'll hold you responsible," he told Yugi, who just shrugged.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : I love when a chapter has a nice, even number of words. I don't even intend for it to happen, it just does, and I get so happy. Please let me know how you are all enjoying this fic! And have any of you read the book that it's based on?


	13. Chapter 13

**Pairings** : Peachshipping, Dragonshipping. Chaseshipping, Silentshipping

 **Rating** : T

 **Words (Chapter 13):** 1,075

 **Author's Notes** : Alright, I had to refer back to the book this is based on to remember where I'd planned to go with this story, but I think this chapter ended up really good. I don't really have much to say about it beforehand, so I'll leave it at: I hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think.

* * *

 **Yugi** :

"I'm coming with you," Yami spoke up as Tristan and I made our way to the door.

"No, you're not," I sighed. "Not until I check it out first." He looked ready to fight about it but I ignored it. "Kaiba, do you have a can of salt I could take?"

The taller of the brothers looked at me with distaste; I'd assumed it'd be confusion. "Why would you need –"

But Mokuba had gotten up and ran to the kitchen, coming back in the midst of his question. "Here." He handed me a full can of salt – the seal hadn't even been broken. Good. I didn't know how much I'd need.

"I always thought that was a myth," Tristan admitted and I shook my head.

"No idea why it works, but it works." I shrugged and began making my way through the foyer. Tristan was following quietly, and suddenly they all had gotten up to follow us to the front door.

"If you're not back in an hour, we're coming to look for you," Téa insisted. I looked around at their faces. There were so many people, but the Kaiba mansion was so large that they seemed to barely take up space in the entryway.

"If we're not back in an hour, there's a good chance we're dead," I answered.

"What?" Serenity gasped. "Why would you say that? Why would he _say that_?" she nearly cried to her brother, who put his arm around her and gave me a pointed look.

I shrugged. "What? It's true."

"He's just being a pessimist. They're going to be fine, Serenity. Yugi knows what he's doing."

I wasn't sure if he really believed that or if he was just trying to calm his sister. Frankly, if he really thought I knew what I was doing here, he was either full of blind faith or Yami had told him so. I wasn't sure which of these options made me feel worse.

"I'll make sure Tristan's fine. You don't have to worry about your friend."

"You're our friend too," Téa spoke and I didn't respond, instead turning to leave.

Tristan came out a moment later, leading me down the driveway of the mansion towards Duke's convertible. "I didn't take my bike, and it'd be awkward to explain to Kaiba's driver where we need to go," he explained, despite me not actually voicing a question. He jingled the keys and popped the locks, getting in easily and putting his seatbelt on. I did the same and waited for him to go.

He didn't.

I waited for a good minute before he spoke.

"Our interest in your friendship is genuine but if you don't want it, fine – but you don't need to be so goddamn mean." I looked over at him, narrowing my eyes and preparing for a fight, but he continued before I even could. "I get it, you've been through some shit, but we have, too. That was a terrifying day for all of us, you weren't the only one affected."

At first I thought he'd meant the night they were attacked, until I thought over his words. I hadn't been there. I hadn't been affected in the slightest…he meant a different day.

He meant the suicide attempt. "You were there?"

He took a deep breath and nodded. "I was at Joey's," he said, a lot quieter than he had been. "You really don't know anything about that day, do you?"

I looked down at the can of salt in my lap. Other than the fact that it was Seto Kaiba who'd saved me and eventually that Joey Wheeler was the medium who passed the message along, not really. I never wanted to know.

"I was at Joey's eating dinner. His mom was working so I liked to go over and hang with him and Serenity." He shrugged, like the background wasn't really important. "All of a sudden, he jumps up, starts having this conversation with himself, it seems. Of course, we know it's a spirit, so we don't question it until he starts getting frazzled. Talking about someone needing us to save their life, but they were far away. On a bridge. Going to jump into the water."

He looked at the mansion through the windshield, hands nervously playing with the steering wheel. "Well, we had no way of getting out there. But Serenity had already started seeing Kaiba and knew he and his brother were sailing out there on some yacht party for his stepfather. Some business thing they'd been roped into." He scoffed. "Kaiba did his best to portray the fact that he thought Joey was loonier than a Loony Toon without insulting the girl he was seeing, but she ended up begging him to try. To look for you, to help if he could. Mokuba was listening, and he must've gone out to look because it was him yelling that there was a body in the water that got Kaiba to dive."

I didn't know what to say through the whole story, so I nervously bit my lip.

"Serenity called your grandfather and we waited on the line to hear if you were okay. Serenity… hell, you probably didn't even remember who she was at that point but she was in tears over the idea of losing you. By the end of it, we almost all were."

I was still quiet. I was honestly feeling so uncomfortable. Of course, I usually make that into feeling anger. I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed. "Well, what do you want, Tristan? An apology? Gratitude?" I snapped back.

"Holy fuck, no, I don't want any of that, I just want forgiveness!"

"What?"

"I want you to stop punishing us! I want you to tell us we did the right thing…"

I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. I swallowed hard before taking a shaky breath. I'd never really thought about how they'd felt, even when I thought it was just Joey and Kaiba involved. Now, things made a lot more sense. Serenity, Mokuba, Tristan...

"You did," I mumbled, before raising my voice so he could hear me. "You guys did do the right thing."

He was quiet for a minute before he put the key in the ignition and started up the car. "Alright. Now that that's out of the way, let's go find out what dead douchebag is responsible for our spectral wounds, hm?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Alright, so we got the story of what actually happened with Joey and Kaiba the day they had to save Yugi's life. I'm glad I got that background out of the way and I think I did so without boring you all. Next chapter, Yugi meets our big bad again in their place of haunting. Some of you are giving your guesses as to who it is, and I'm excited to reveal if you're wrong or right. Soon, my loves!


End file.
